Mad about what?

I watched about seven minutes of Mad Men last night. Mad Men, a show about sexist, racist, egotists Madison Avenue ad executives a few decades ago, is heralded as one of the best contemporary television shows around, by almost every television critic.

I don't know why.

After the commercial break, I had no incentive to tune back. Granted, it was in the middle of an episode. That did not help me to immerse myself at all.

But there seemed to be pauses so long they could almost be passed off as being a vintage episode of The Hills. And "vintage" is a great way to describe the production values. It felt like watching a decades-old episode of Masterpiece Theater, produced on a BBC budget smaller than an episode of Doctor Who.

And I saw two scenes with one character, which, it was tough to say without having seeing the other episodes of the series, but I didn't feel like I was watching a story progress. I was watching someone's very boring day.

I know the character of Don Draper is supposedly this new iconic television character. And maybe he is, I didn't get to see much of him. But the seven minutes I saw of Mad Men was maddeningly boring. And this is coming from someone who can watch episodes of Masterpiece Theater and Mystery!.

Maybe I need to see a full episode. But I can't imagine wanting to.

I also recently tried watching an episode of Saving Grace on TNT. I could only make it through the opening act. It involved Grace, a bartender, giving drinks to her customers. Then there was some dancing on top of the bar. Someone got naked. Maya Gallo was there, and the joke seemed to be that she was a bad waitress because she couldn't flaunt her stuff as well as the others. Ha? And... that was about it. And then the weird, trippy theme song. I totally did not get it.

But I understand Lost. And I watch 24, Heroes, Chuck and Pushing Daisies. So it's not like I don't get the avant-garde television shows on today. But those shows? Uh-uh.